By Date
| Location | Date | Mode of construction | Height | Reason for collapse | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nauen, Germany | March 30, 1912 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 200 m | Storm | |
| Java, Netherlands East Indies | 1923 | ? | ? | Lightning | |
| Norddeich, Germany | November 25, 1925 | Guyed steel lattice mast | ? | Storm | Three towers collapsed |
| Place of Magdeburg Transmitter, Berlin, Germany | July 1926 | Guyed mast on roof top | ? | Through rusted guy | |
| Western mast of Zeesen transmitter, Zeesen, Germany | 1927 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 210 m | Collapse at construction | |
| Munich-Stadelheim, Germany | November 23, 1930 | Free standing wood lattice tower | 75 m | Storm | Two towers snapped off 25 metres above ground |
| Langenberg, Germany | October 10, 1935 | Free standing wood lattice tower | 150 m | Tornado | replaced by triangle antenna |
| Liechtenstein-Haberfeld transmitter | 21 November 1938 | Storm | |||
| Utbremen Radio Tower, Bremen, Germany | 1939 | Free standing wood lattice tower | 90 m | Lightning | replaced by steel tower |
| Radio Normandie Transmitter, Tower West, Fécamp, France | November 7, 1940 | Free standing lattice tower | 113 m | Storm | |
| Langenberg, Germany | 1949 | Guyed steel tube mast | 51 m | storm | 2 masts of a triangle aerial |
| Schwerin-Möwenburgstrasse transmitter, Schwerin, Germany | February 10, 1949 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 120 m | storm | |
| Hamburg-Billwerder, Germany | December 1949 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 198 m | storm | Partial destruction of a guyed mast under construction |
| Augusta, Michigan | November 30, 1953 | Guyed steel tube mast | Aircraft Collision | Former Michigan Governor Kim Sigler. who was piloting the plane, and three passengers were killed. | |
| Nicosia, Cyprus | 1955 | sabotage | Destroyed by EOKA rebels | ||
| WOAI, Selma (San Antonio), USA | 1957/1958 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 50 m | Aircraft collision | |
| Ochsenkopf, Germany | January, 1958 | Guyed steel tube mast | 50 m | Icing | Replaced by concrete tower |
| KOBR-TV Tower, Caprock, New Mexico, USA | 1960 | Guyed lattice steel mast | 490.7 m | Storm | Replaced by new mast of same height |
| LORAN-C transmitter Carolina Beach, Carolina Beach, North Carolina, USA | 1961 | Lattice Tower | 190.5 m | Storm | Tower buckled at 2/3 of height. Tower carried radials on its top although it was not designed for them. |
| Villebon-sur-Yvette, France | December 10, 1961 | Guyed steel lattice mast | ? | Terrorism | |
| LORAN-C transmitter Ejde, Ejde, Faroe Islands | 1962 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 190.5 m | Material fault | Slip of guy |
| KGW Tower, Portland, Oregon, USA | October 12, 1962 | Guyed steel lattice mast | ~180 m | Storm | Columbus Day Storm |
| Angissq LORAN-C transmitter, Angissq, Greenland | July 27, 1964 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 411.48 m | Material fault | Replaced by 704 ft (214 m) tall mast radiator |
| Yap LORAN-C transmitter, Yap Island, Micronesia | 1964 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 304.8 m | Collapsed during construction | |
| Iwo Jima LORAN-C transmitter, Japan | 1965 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 411.48 m | Maintenance work | The collapsing mast also destroyed the transmitter building. 6 persons were killed. |
| SES8 Tower, Mount Burr, South Australia, | 1965 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 200 m | Mast collapsed during guy wire tension testing | |
| KXJB-TV mast, North Dakota, USA | February 14, 1966 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 627.89 m | Helicopter collision | |
| WLBT Tower, Raymond, Mississippi | March 3, 1966 | Guyed steel lattice | 487.6 m | F5 Tornado | Replaced with 609.3 m tower which collapsed in 1997 |
| XHI-TV Tower, Ciudad Obregón, Mexico | September 28, 1966 | ? | 200 m | Hurricane Kristen | Replaced with a temporary Antenna and moved to Yucuribampo Hill |
| WNBC/WCBS-Tower, High Island, New York, USA | August 27, 1967 | Guyed lattice steel mast | 161 m | Aircraft collision | |
| Waltham mast, UK | 1967 | Guyed tubular steel mast | 290 m | Storm: high winds causing oscillations in the mast structure | |
| KELO TV Tower, Rowena, South Dakota, USA | June 24, 1968 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 609.6 m | Airplane collision during thunderstorm | |
| WAEO Tower, Starks, Wisconsin, USA | November 17, 1968 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 524.25 m | collapse due to plane collision with guy wire | |
| Marnach, Luxembourg | January 17, 1969 | ? | ? | ? | |
| Emley Moor, Great Britain | March 19, 1969 | Guyed tubular steel mast | 385 m | Ice | Replaced by 330.4 m free-standing concrete tower |
| Orlunda, Sweden | July 12, 1970 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 250 m | Lightning (Destruction of basement insulator) | |
| KOIN-TV Transmitter Towers, Portland, Oregon, USA | February 28, 1971 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 304.8 m + 213.4 m | Icing | Two Towers collapsed |
| Königswusterhausen, Germany | November 15, 1972 | Lattice steel tower | 243 m | storm | |
| Bithlo (near Orlando), Florida | June 8, 1973 | Guyed Steel Tower | 457.2 m | Collapsed because of removal of load-bearing diagonals during FM antenna installation. | Multi-station tower supporting antennas of TV stations WDBO-TV, WFTV, and WMFE-TV, and radio stations WDBO-FM and WDIZ-FM – two workers on tower killed |
| KCRG-TV Transmitter Tower near Walker, Iowa | October 4, 1973 | Guyed Steel Tower | 598 m | Collapsed during modifications to tower. | Tower being modified prior to installtion of Iowa Public Television side mounted antenna – five workers on tower site killed |
| TV Mast Brest - Roc Trédudon | February 1974 | Guyed steel lattice mast | ? | Terrorism | |
| KELO TV Tower, Rowena, South Dakota, USA | 1975 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 609.6 m | Blizzard | |
| Sendemast SL3, Burg bei Magdeburg, Germany | February 18, 1976 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 350 m | Material fault | |
| Pic de Nore transmitter, Pic de Nore, France | December 2, 1976 | Concrete tower | ? m | Storm | Storm tore pinnacle down |
| KSLA-TV Tower, Mooringsport, LA, USA | October 8, 1977 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 521 m | Undetermined | 1709 feet HAAT. Erected November 17, 1964. Had elevator, RCA Travelling Wave pylon antenna for Channel 12 (System M), land mobile antennas, all lost. RCA contractor for erection, Stainless subcontractor. No definitive cause ever found for collapse. Speculation of "galloping guy lines" (mechanical standing waves in one of the guys), causing stress-to-failure in the guys due to rapidly alternating strain. |
| WJJY TV Mast, Bluffs, IL USA | March 26, 1978 (Easter Sunday) | Guyed steel lattice mast | 491 m | Ice - The strain snapped 2-inch coupling bolts (24 of them) that joined the 2nd and 3rd sections. | In August 1969 - This tower was 1 of 3 tallest structures in the Northern Hemisphere and transmitter radiated the most powerful UHF-TV signal in the world. TV channel 14 (470-476 MHz) |
| WAND TV Tower, Decatur, IL USA | March 26, 1978 (Easter Sunday) | Guyed steel lattice mast | 400.5 m | Ice - Same ice storm that toppled WJJY. Upper section of antenna broke loose and fell through the guy wires. | WAND and WJJY used the same RCA UHF antennas, mfg in 1969. TV channel 17 (488-494 MHz) |
| Nebraska Education Tower Angora, USA | February 1978 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 456.9 m | Ice | |
| Zehlendorf bei Oranienburg, Germany | May 21, 1978 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 352 m | Aircraft collision | |
| CKVR Television Tower, Barrie, Ontario, Canada | 1978 | ? | 65.58 m | Aircraft collision | |
| Vysílač Krašov, Bezvěrov, Czechoslovakia | 1979 | Guyed Mast of lattice steel | 305 m | Icing | Mast was predamaged |
| Blåbärskullen transmitter, Sunne, Sweden | December 27, 1979 | Guyed Mast of lattice steel | 323 m | Icing | Pinnacle with broadcasting antennas fell down, height afterwards 274 metres |
| LORAN-C transmitter Jan Mayen, Jan Mayen, Norway | October 8, 1980 | Guyed mast of lattice steel | 190.5 m | Icing | Guys were improperly installed |
| Delimora Transmitter | ? | Guyed mast of lattice steel | 88 m | Guy melted as result of high electric field strength, storm at same time made mast collapse | |
| Dudelange Radio Tower | July 31, 1981 | Lattice steel tower | 285 m | Aircraft collision | |
| WCIQ Tower, Mount Cheaha, Alabama, USA | January 1982 | Guyed steel lattice mast | ? | Ice Storm | |
| Senior Road Tower, Missouri City, Texas, USA | 1982 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 569.8 m | Guy wire severed | Total collapse during installation of 6-ton FM antenna on new 1800 ft. tower. 5 technicians killed, 3 on the hoist and 2 on the tower. Determined insufficient sized bolts on the makeshift lifting lug extension failed. The falling debris severed one of the tower's guy wires which caused the tower to whip back and forth and collapse, video here. |
| KANU tower, Lawrence, KS, USA | December 11, 1982 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 184.4 m | Sabotage - guy wires severed | |
| TV mast Wavre, Belgium | October 13, 1983 | Guyed mast | ? | Storm | |
| KWWL, Rowley, Iowa, USA | November 28, 1983 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 610 m | Ice | |
| Bielstein, Germany | January 15, 1985 | Guyed steel tube mast | 298 m | Ice | |
| Caroline 558 and Radio Monique mast, aboard MV Ross Revenge, off English coast | November 25, 1987 | Lattice steel tower | 92 m approx | Force 8 storm | Tallest ever mast aboard any ship; replaced by horizontal wire antenna between two shorter masts |
| Vännäs TV Tower, Vännäs, Sweden | 1987/88 | Guyed mast | 323 m | Icing | Replaced by 323 metres tall partially guyed tower |
| KTVO-TV Tower, Missouri, USA | June 2, 1988 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 609.6 m | ||
| KGO (AM) towers, Newark, California, USA | October 17, 1989 | ? | 91 m | Earthquake | Three towers damaged |
| WRAL-TV & WPTF-TV towers, Auburn, North Carolina, USA | December, 1989 | 2 Guyed steel tube framework masts | 609.3 m | Ice | Unusually heavy ice concentrated at top predominantly on one side of towers caused asymmetrical load. Dislodged essentially as one piece during rapid warming; sudden unloading caused dynamic failure. |
| RÚV long wave radio mast, Vatnsendahæð, Reykjavik, Iceland | February 3, 1991 | Guyed steel lattice mast | Storm | ||
| WDIO-TV Duluth, Minnesota, USA | March 23, 1991 | Guyed steel triangular tower | 259.1 m | Ice and high wind | Freezing rain, accompanied at time with thunder, coated the city of Duluth with as much as 6 inches of ice. The 850-foot WDIO-TV tower was toppled as winds gusted to 40 mph, buffeting the heavily ice-covered tower. The tower fell onto a nearby utility line which provided power to the remainder of Duluth’s television and FM radio stations, and all but one AM radio station. Telephone and power lines snapped leaving Duluth and many northeastern Minnesota communities with utility services for 24 hours. The DNR reported that four million pine trees were damaged or destroyed. - NOAA NWS Duluth, MN |
| Warsaw radio mast, Konstantynów, Poland | August 8, 1991 | Guyed steel tube framework mast | 648.38 m | Maintenance | Replacement by facility in Solec Kujawski |
| WCIX TV Tower Homestead (Miami) Florida | August 25, 1992 | Guyed steel tower | 549 m | Hurricane Andrew | Rebuilt by LeBlanc Tower of Canada |
| COMMSTA Miami | 1992 | Guyed Mast (insulated) | 91.44 m | Hurricane Andrew | Collapse of 2 masts |
| Cape Race LORAN-C transmitter, Cape Race, Canada | February 2, 1993 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 411.48 m | Material Fault | Fatigue failure of the eyebolt head in a compression cone insulator on structural guy caused swing-in damage, which resulted in structural collapse |
| LORAN-C transmitter Kargaburan, Kargaburan, Turkey | February 25, 1993 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 190.5 m | Snowstorm | Tower had construction faults |
| WCOV-TV Tower, Montgomery, Alabama, USA | 1996 | ? | 242 m | Tornado | |
| Langenberg, Germany | September 2, 1996 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 160 m | Maintenance | |
| KXTX-TV Tower, Cedar Hill, Texas, USA | October 12, 1996 | Guyed steel tower | 468 m | Maintenance | 3 died when tower collapsed in moderate wind gust |
| ?, USA | December 31, 1996 | ? | 195.1 m | material fault | |
| Grigoriopol transmitter, Moldova | 1997 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 350 m, 250 m | Icing | 2 masts collapsed |
| KXJB-TV mast, North Dakota, USA | April 6, 1997 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 627.89 m | Ice | |
| KNOE-FM Tower, Louisiana, USA | March 20, 1997 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 606.25 m | Maintenance | One killed, 2 injured when workers failed to install temporary braces |
| WLBT Tower, Raymond, Mississippi, USA | October 23, 1997 | Guyed steel lattice | 609.3 m | Maintenance | Three killed - temporary braces failed during HDTV antenna upgrade |
| WKY-AM-TV Tower, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA | June 13, 1998 | Guyed mast | 292.9 m | Tornado | |
| TV Tower Avala, Serbien | April 30, 1999 | Concrete tower (with observation deck) | 202.87 m | Air raid (NATO bombardment, Kosovo war) | |
| WRMD-Tower, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA | April 25, 2000 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 197.8 m | Helicopter crash | 3 died when medical helicopter hit guy wire in clear weather and crashed |
| WNWI 1080-Towers, Oak Lawn (Chicago), Illinois, USA | July 9, 2000 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 61 m | Sabotage | Two towers collapsed |
| KXEO/KWWR-Tower, Mexico, MO, USA | August 23, 2000 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 122.8 m | Storm | |
| CBC Tower, Canada | April 22, 2001 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 371 m | Blown up after aircraft crash | |
| Angara transmitter, Northern Mast, Angara, Russia | June 6, 2001 | Guyed steel lattice mast carrying a T-antenna | 205 m | Bad state of guys | |
| Krasny Bor transmitter, Russia | November 5, 2001 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 257.5 m | Helicopter collision | |
| WKFT, North Carolina, USA | March 14, 2002 | Guyed steel tower | 503 m | Airplane Crash | |
| KDUH/CH4 TV Mast, Hemingford, Nebraska, USA | September 24, 2002 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 599 m | Maintenance | Two workers killed, 3 injured on ground |
| WVAH-TV Tower, West Virginia, USA | February 19, 2003 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 473 m | Ice | |
| WPAY (AM)-Towert, Portsmouth, Ohio, USA | February 19, 2003 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 200.9 m | Ice | |
| WTNV-FM Tower, Jackson, Tennessee, USA | May 4, 2003 | Free-standing steel lattice tower | 176.7 m | Tornado | |
| WMBD Tower, Peoria, Illinois, USA | May 10, 2003 | Free-standing steel lattice tower | ? | Tornado | Collapse of 3 towers |
| KETV TV Tower | July, 2003 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 415.1 m | Reconstruction work | |
| WIFR TV tower | July 5, 2003 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 222.8 m | Storm (derecho) | |
| WAAY-TV - TV Mast, Huntsville, Alabama, USA | September 4, 2003 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 305 m | unknown | 3 workers killed |
| Utrecht, Netherlands | September 8, 2003 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 45 m | Fallen at falling trees | |
| WJDB Transmitter Grove Hill, AL | September 16, 2004 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 131 m | Hurricane Ivan | Replacement Tower constructed shortly thereafter. Also knocked Clarke County, AL Sheriff's Office off the air (KWO611) |
| Peterborough, Great Britain | October 30, 2004 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 163 m | Fire (suspected vandalism) | Temporary replacement mast constructed shortly thereafter. New permanent mast entered full service in February 2006. |
| KFI Mast, La Mirada, CA, USA | December 19, 2004 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 195.1 m | Aircraft collision | |
| WLGA Transmitter Tower (formerly WSWS-TV Transmitter Tower), Cusseta, Georgia, USA | February 27, 2005 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 538.3 m | Replacement tower completed September 15, 2005. | |
| Nebraska Education Tower Atlanta, Atlanta, Nebraska, USA | November 25, 2005 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 324.8 m | Aircraft collision | All three aircraft occupants killed |
| KLTV-TV Mast, Tyler, TX (Red Springs, TX) | February 3, 2006 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 329 m | Undetermined | 1078 feet HAAT. Erected in 1981. No definitive cause ever found for collapse. Speculation was that the collapse was directly or indirectly related to the recent installation of their digital television antenna. The collapse destroyed the tower, KLTV's analog and digital antennas, KLTV's digital transmitter, and FM station KVNE's antenna. The analog transmitter was undamaged, and within a few days was moved to KLTV's backup tower in east Tyler. Interestingly, the collapse occurred the day after Raycom Media officially took ownership of the station. |
| Torre VIP de Rádio & TV, São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil | August 23, 2006 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 174 m | Maintenance | 1 Person was killed |
| WACS-TV tower | March 1, 2007 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 329m | EF3 tornado | Americus, Georgia was struck by the tornado a few minutes later |
| WSKY-DT Tower, Camden County, NC, USA | March 2, 2007 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 230.65 m | Guy wire anchor failure | Under construction. Also destroyed transmitter building. Was planned for a height of 1,036 ft (315.77 m). |
| WCFE-DT, Clinton, County, NY, USA | April 18, 2007 | Guyed steel tower | 135.9 m | Structural failure | 400-foot transmitter tower located on Averil Peak, NY completely collapsed as a result of heavy amounts of ice and snow from the April 2007 Nor'easter. Partially damaged the transmitter building at the base. New tower erected and back in service Oct, 9 2007. |
| Browns Summit Crown Castle Broadcasting Tower, Browns Summit, Texas, USA | May 29, 2007 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 243.84 m | Restoration work | |
| WNEP-TV Tower, Penobscot Knob, Mountaintop, PA, USA | December 16, 2007 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 243.84 m | Ice | Also damaged transmitter building and doppler radar. |
| WVIA-TV Tower, Penobscot Knob, Mountaintop, PA, USA | December 16, 2007 | Guyed steel lattice mast | Ice | 300 ft. section lost from top of tower | |
| KATV-TV Tower, Redfield, Jefferson County, USA | January 11, 2008 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 609.6 m | Maintenance | restringing guy wires http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0108/487185.html |
| Emmis Television Wichita Tower | March 28, 2009 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 326.4m | Ice | |
| 2QN Tower, Deniliquin, New South Wales, Australia | June 30, 2009 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 102 m | Storm | Wind gust reportedly caused the mast to collapse during a severe storm |
| KRKO Radio Towers | September 4, 2009 | Guyed steel lattice mast | ? m | Terrorism | 2 masts |
| WLHR-FM Radio Tower Lavonia, GA, USA | January 30, 2010 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 86 m | Sabotage | Guyed wires cut |
| WEAU TV/Radio Tower Fairchild, WI, USA | March 22, 2011 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 609 m | ? | Weather related |
| Zendstation Smilde, TV/Radio Tower, Hoogersmilde, The Netherlands | July 15, 2011 | Guyed steel tube mast on concrete tower | 303.5 m | Fire | Tubular steel superstructure collapsed, new steel lattice superstructure constructed (2012) on top of existing concrete base tower |
| Longwave transmitter Europe 1, 280 metres mast, Felsberg-Berus, Germany | August 8th, 2012 | Guyed steel lattice mast | 280 m | ? | Pinnacle and upper sections fell down |
| Boll Relay Transmitter, Oberndorf-Boll, Germany | November 2nd, 2012 | Lattice tower | 30 m | collision with truck |
Read more about this topic: List Of Catastrophic Collapses Of Radio Masts And Towers
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